To stand on road to stop parents parking illegally

[ChimneyPot]

Parking at our primary school has been hazardous for years. There is a crossing guard on the main road at the school gates but not on a side road lots of kids have to cross. Parents park on the double yellow lines at the junction of the side road blocking lines of site for pedestrians and cars trying to turn in and out. This often results in the road getting blocked and cars reversing back on to main road.
School sends repeated communication to parents without impact and has asked local authority for bollards and this is under consideration but hasn’t happened yet.

I used to collect my DC from the gate because of the risks but DC wants to be more independent and meet me further away.

I started asking parents not to park and the junction but have been largely ignored so I have started standing on the edge of the road to prevent people parking and this has been effective.
Today someone I know signalled to me to move but I smiled and shook my head and they had to park a few metres down the street . They are not happy with me.

AIBU to block the road?

Broke their wrist btw. Could have been much worse!

It's a story as old as time. Almost.

99.99% of the time they're picking kids up from school and have no awareness of how CF they are.

I asked my son's primary school head what could be done and he said "Nothing. You can't reward children who walk to school because it's parents who decide to drive."
That was a seriously good number of years ago. I never witnessed an accident but saw too many near misses with parents racing along with wheels on the kerb to get to the zigzags first.
Appalling behaviour by them all.

I do suspect some of the driving stems from people hoodwinking the system and actually living further away than they should. No one has appetite for completely refilling schools though by sensible distance rules. I've asked someone who works in that bit of the council. It'd upset too many people.
Some postcode mapping of children's home addresses would probably enlighten councils as to why there is so much parking outside schools that is such a concern to residents of the roads around school and the parents who opt to walk.

Not all parents who drive live far away, or go on to work immediately afterwards.

Speak to the head teacher about arranging a traffic warden to visit at morning and afternoon drop off . This happened a few years ago at our local primary. Traffic warden ticketed the whole lot of them and it solved the problem immediately 🤣🤣

Ask the local traffic officer what he thinks. He will tell you to stop endangering your own life, get back on the pavement and stop provoking people.

I understand why you do it but there are a lot of stressed and aggressive people out there. Be careful.

Not all parents who drive live far away, or go on to work immediately afterwards no, this is so true. People start arriving about 3/4 hour before school pick up time and sit in my road with their engines running. They are not coming from work; even if they were, they'd have ample time to go home and walk back to school.

I suspect if you put cones out the parents would just get out of the car and move them!

You are braver than me. At my children's old primary school if you did that you would be likely to get a whole heap of abuse thrown at you.

YANBU. Why does collecting children from
school turn a lot of people into bellends? I had the misfortune to be near a primary school last week at the end of the school day. I saw so much rude and entitled parking

@Georgeskitchen love it!

This used to happen near my old house. Mothers (I am sorry but it was 100% mothers) who were unwilling to walk their children, sometimes less than 250 meters to a school bus stop. Would park blocking pavements and junctions.

I once knocked a cars wing mirror whilst trying to negotiate past without having to walk through the mud with my 2 dogs. All hell broke lose with the woman inside the car claiming i scared her daughter, damaged her car and "who was i to tell her where to park".

There was a huge queue of other mothers stood there watching, some pushing prams which would not have been able to pass these parked cars without going into the busy road. I made a stand, told this woman she was endangering childrens lives by making it really difficult to cross a busy road, not to mention how she made it impossible for anyone in a disability buggy or mother pushing a pram to pass. EVERY single mother in that queue turned their back and did nothing to back me up. I just told the woman if anything needed fixed i would happily pay for it, turned around and walked off.

That bus stop is at the bottom of a slippery road which turns into an ice rink in winter and not much better in wet. It is a massive tragedy waiting to happen to more than one child. I was going to speak to the school but my children are past the age where i personally have to worry and if none of the other mothers care enough....well. what can you do?

When my DS went to the local primary that was built in the middle of a housing estate (!!), the police would attend at the beginning of each new school year and ticket people who were parked illegally and be a visible presence in the mornings for a couple of weeks. It made a MASSIVE difference.

Good on you. It drives me mad

Speak to the head teacher about arranging a traffic warden to visit at morning and afternoon drop off . This happened a few years ago at our local primary. Traffic warden ticketed the whole lot of them and it solved the problem immediately

This

I love this so much. Stand your ground, @ChimneyPot !

Sounds good to me.

Find a couple of other likeminded parents, and ask school to provide you with hi-vis jackets.

The local paper would love that story, which may in turn speed up your bollards…

Good on you!

We had the same problem but I was just reduced to glaring at the idiots who parked stupidly.

YANBU at all. People parking on corners with double yellow lines drives me mad at my daughter's school. It is the same people doing it everyday. There are spaces further along the road that are free but god forbid they have to walk an extra 30 feet up the road.

They can't even use the excuse they are in a hurry (which is a shit one anyone) as they are normally sat talking on their phones or eye fucking themselves in their rear view mirror.

Good on you for taking a stand OP.

Absolutely this!

We have this at our school and it drives me mad. Parents literally just don't care and want to walk as few steps as possible.

I'd club together with other parents and stand at all the places the selfish twunts like to park. I'd also speak with the local Police and see what they can do. Occasionally they send down PSCO's to ours to speak with the parents.

Our schools road has no access for non residents on the road between 8 and 9 and 3 and 4. Problem solved.

It is maddening.
Try this www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/report-illegal-parking/

I think that schools have to put up a no parking sign to have it (zig zags, double yellows) enforced.

Go to your Parish Council and ask them to request a traffic survey from your local highways department if it is dangerous to see if there are any additional measures that can be taken.

So how does it actually effect you personally?

Speak to the local police station and ask that PSCO's stand there.

This is what they do at DS's school.

Good for you.

It's putting children's lives at risk.

She is volunteering to keep school children safe by doing this.